SHANGHAI: China’s economy this year has shown signs of stabilizing and growing more strongly, and the momentum may continue in the second half, the central bank governor said on Saturday.

Positive progress has been achieved in economic transformation, said Zhou Xiaochuan in a statement posted on the People’s Bank of China’s website.

Zhou’s comment come ahead of a key Communist Party Congress than opens on October 18, and release of third-quarter economic growth and other data on October 19,

For the second quarter, China reported the economy expanded 6.9 percent from a year earlier.

Zhou said the country’s imports and exports have risen rapidly, its current account surplus has narrowed and fiscal income has kept growing.

China will pursue a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy and aim to strengthen areas of weakness, deleverage and monitor and prevent risk in shadow banking and the real estate market, among other things, said Zhou, who spoke at a G20 summit meeting in Washington.

Chinese banks extended more loans than expected in September, according to data published on Saturday, buoyed by demand from home buyers and companies, even as the government tightened the screws to wean the economy off its years-long addiction to cheap debt.